A 54-year-old woman was criminally charged in connection with the death of a young boy in Alabama after he was left unattended in a hot car for hours, according to police.
The Birmingham Police Department said Kela Stanford has been charged with leaving a child or an incapacitated person unattended in a motor vehicle in a manner that creates an unreasonable risk of injury or harm, as part of the Amiyah White Act.
The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office said the charge is a class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
3-year-old Ketorrius Starkes Jr, known as KJ, was reportedly trapped inside a vehicle on Tuesday after a supervised visit with his father while in the custody of a contractor working for the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
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According to information provided by the family's attorney to The New York Times and CNN, the boy was picked up from daycare at 9 a.m. by a woman who was contracted through Covenant Services, Inc. for the supervised visitation.
Instead of immediately returning him to daycare afterward, the worker reportedly made several personal errands with Starkes buckled in the backseat before returning to her home in a suburb of Birmingham.
The child was then left in the backseat at the worker's residence for more than five hours before they called 911.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources said the employee was terminated by the contract provider.
